Middle East Bonds

Sovereign mandates are starting to trickle through in CEEMEA as borrowers ready themselves for September. Bahrain has picked five banks to manage a dollar transaction and the market is waiting for updates from Egypt and Nigeria.

Bahrain has picked five banks to arrange its next Eurobond. With one of those banks also linked to the Saudi Arabia mandate, the deals are expected to be timed to avoid collision.

HSBC has let go of a DCM banker who had spent over a decade with the bank, according to market sources.

A string of Middle East issuers is expected in the Formosa market over the next 12 months, according to a DCM banker in Dubai, who added that investors are keen to look at corporates from the region as well as banks.

Emirates NBD has printed a $500m 3.5 year Formosa private placement, marking a further opening of this market to Middle East issuers.

Emirati holding company Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) printed a $300m opportunistic tap of its May 2024s on Monday to reopen the Gulf Corporation Council bond market after Ramadan.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has started a series of investor calls and meetings to market a triple currency bond that is expected to be one of the largest new issues of the year.

National Bank of Oman has set terms for a $100m tap of its $500m 3.125% 2019s at 200bp over mid-swaps, which a syndicate official away from the deal said equates to a new issue premium of around 23bp.

Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) printed a $300m opportunistic tap of its May 2024s on Monday to re-open the Gulf Corporation Council bond market after Ramadan.

With the Republic of Macedonia on the road for the first euro-denominated bond from an emerging market issuer since Brexit and EM credit continuing to rally, bankers are expecting a strong few weeks pre-summer.

Kuwait has joined the roster of Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) sovereigns looking for international financing to help plug increasing fiscal deficits, but while DCM bankers are in no doubt an issue would be met with strong demand, the sovereign has plenty of work to do before coming to market.

Kuwait's Burgan Bank has picked five banks to manage its senior bond offering after establishing a new EMTN programme on Sunday.